Tolbert: What's it like after a long offseason to get back to spring training, see all the guys and get back on the field?

Pence: It's an exciting time. I think every year, all the work you put in in the offseason, to get back out on the field and see what you did, see the effects; and get back with everybody, see the new team, and get back playing the game we love.

Tolbert: What was your main focus, or did you have a goal that you wanted to achieve in the offseason?

Pence: I want to get the best I can out of myself. I want to be faster, stronger, pretty much everything. That's my goal every offseason, to find a way to find the balance and find the harmony to get the most out of my ability.

Tolbert: I want to ask you about arbitration, because you went through it in Houston and Brandon Belt just avoided it here. Is it as bad as I think it is?

Pence: It was definitely awkward. It feels like everything changes after you go through an arbitration case. You start to realize some other sides of the game that you didn't see before as a kid. I would say that everyone's situation is different - my situation with the Astros really wasn't that bad. People told me, "Oh, don't sit in there, they're going to trash you." They didn't really trash me, they just said that I was asking for too much money.

Tolbert: I want to ask you about a couple of bigger-picture baseball things: the replay and the collisions at home.

Pence: I absolutely love (replay). Nothing makes you more angry than when you go back and watch the replay and you know you're safe and they still called you out. I don't know what it is about the way I run the bases - some optical illusion or something - but I just feel like it goes the other way a lot more than it should. Getting it right makes you feel better, and at least having the opportunity to challenge some things makes me really happy.

Tolbert: Eliminating collisions at home plate I think is a really good idea, although I'm not quite sure how they're going to enforce it. In theory, it sounds good. Is there a practical way to make it work?

Pence: I've heard a theory or two that makes a lot of sense, and there should be some rules to this. I think there should be a lane where the catcher can be safe. Say he's standing in front of home plate, where there's no reason for a runner to have to go there. I think that's where people get really angry, is if the catcher is standing there and leaving the base wide open, and a baserunner comes and just crushes the guy, that just doesn't make any sense. It's not humane. As far as a baserunner, if you tell us we can't run him over if he's standing in the way, you're putting us at risk. So there should be a lane where the catcher is safe, and a lane where the runner is free to do what he will because he has to get to home.

Tolbert: I would also say that if I'm a runner, and you're in the safe zone, don't catch the ball and have me slide and then drop a shin guard on me and snap my leg.

Pence: Well, when you're running the bases, you have to be cognizant of that because they can jump from the safe zone into that zone. You kind of know when it's going to be a close play, and just knowing that even if he's in the safe zone, if he comes through my zone, I'm going to go through the bag so hard that it actually might be more dangerous. But as long as I'm free to go in hard through the bag, it doesn't matter if they bring in a shin and put themselves at risk, because the runner can just finish the play and go in hard. Don't expect them not to do that.